Jurors Deliberate in Killing of Police Officer

Jurors have begun deliberating between death by lethal injection and life imprisonment without parole in the slaying of a Houston-area police officer and an auto body shop owner.

Prosecutors appealed Monday to the Harris County jury for the death penalty for 23-year-old Harlem Lewis III. The jury found Lewis guilty last week of capital murder in the Christmas Eve killings two years ago of Bellaire police Officer Jimmie Norman and auto body shop owner Terry Taylor.

Defense attorneys warned jurors that, as attorney Tyronne Moncriffe said, "killing puts a stain on you." He told jurors, "You don't have to put that stain on yourself."

Jurors deliberated about six hours Monday before they were sequestered. They're scheduled to resume their work Tuesday morning.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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